Our favorite local newspaper, the San Antonio Express News, turned in some excellent coverage of the opening of the National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas today. Given that I couldn’t make it myself, it was the next best thing to being there.

The president of the North American Butterfly Association, Dr. Jeffrey Glassberg, compared visiting the Center to “going on a butterfly safari.” Dr. Glassberg spoke last week at the Austin Butterfly Forum and caused a bit of befuddlement among some of us when he said that butterfly nets deter interest in butterflies because “no one wants to run around a field with a butterfly net.”

That comment caused a stir in my circles, where many of us choose to get up close and personal with our butterflies. Few tools are as useful in exposing children to the gravitational magnet of butterfly marvels as a butterfly net, which allows us to feel, touch and witness their magic first hand and up close.

What do you think? Do nets hinder or enhance the butterfly experience? Let us know.